In the House of the Interpreter: A memoir by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

It's 1955. The British colonial state is enforcing a state of emergency declared three years before, in Kenya. The Mau Mau guerilla movement that challenges the empire's power must be crushed. Fear engulfs Kenyans, black natives or white settlers. A semblance of the period of apartheid in South Africa is alive and kicking in that East African country….